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Stop smoking–for the sake of the kids

In the 20 years I have been treating children with lung problems, study after study has shown that smoking is very dangerous to everyone’s health—smokers and the people around them. Yet, despite all the attention and evidence, thousands of people still smoke and more start every day. Sadly, thousands of children remain exposed to this secondhand smoke, which I find very disturbing.

Behavior can be an extremely difficult thing for people to change, but this latest study gives many reasons why parents should try to stop smoking. If they can’t do it for themselves, maybe they can quit for the sake of their kids.

Harm to young lungs
Smoke from cigarettes, cigars or pipes can cause inflammation in the airways of a child’s lungs, making airways more susceptible to infection. In addition, smoke makes these airways more sensitive, aggravating conditions such as asthma and chronic bronchitis. The study also notes that secondhand smoke is harmful to children born with cystic fibrosis.

Helping children get better
In our center at Yale-New Haven Children’s Hospital, we primarily see children with asthma, cystic fibrosis, congenital anomalies, pneumonia and chronic lung conditions that occurred as a result of prematurity. We encourage all parents to stop smoking—or at the very least to not smoke around their children—and we encourage other family members to stop as well. Their attempts to stop often get a major boost when they see how much their own children improve when living in a smoke-free environment. I guess you can call that positive reinforcement of the best kind.

The asthma connection
The current NCI study makes many points that are important for smoking and nonsmoking parents alike to understand. There is no doubt, for example, that smoking aggravates existing asthma and can trigger an asthma attack in a child. That’s important to know if a child with asthma is visiting someone who smokes. However, I’m not sure the evidence is as strong in saying secondhand smoke can cause a child to have asthma in the first place. This report acknowledges these data are somewhat questionable.

Secondhand smoke can also lead to an increase in lung infections, such as bronchitis and pneumonia in children. The numbers cited in the report are staggering–literally thousands of cases. Smoking affects the unborn as well. What is very alarming is what happens in the uterus to a developing baby when a pregnant woman smokes. This study brings to light the connections between smoking and an increase in sudden infant death syndrome, decrease in fetal growth and now a decrease in lung size and function. These have implications that can last a lifetime and are very important.

Making positive changes
What can be done? The absolute best solution is to stop smoking altogether if you are a smoker. Blowing the smoke away from your child, or opening a window, or smoking in the car when they are not around still means that the chemicals remain in the air, on your clothes, in your hair. If you smoke, there is a higher concentration of these chemicals in your house, even if you are not smoking just then. And with every breath, you and your children take them in.

If you don't smoke, politely ask family members, friends and babysitters not to smoke around your children. If you use day care, make sure that environment is also smoke-free. As this report clearly shows, there's too much at stake not to.

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Dr. Haddad is a pediatric respiratory specialist who treats children at Yale-New Haven Children’s Hospital. He is professor and chief of pediatric respiratory medicine at Yale University School of Medicine.